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Saturday, 21 November 2015

Tracemarks began as a way of keeping a record of what was happening in my studio - in a sense it replaced my 'drawing a day' books which were becoming harder and harder to maintain. As such I am able to look back through my blog and see what I have been working on over the last few years and it can be such fun. I also like the fact that because one includes photos in the posts, it has made me mindful to photograph my work.

Over the years I have been remiss and work has sold and I have no record of it at all. Now I take oodles of photographs from all angles (I guess because books are like that) and have a memory track of the work I make. This book below, 'Branching Out' is one that sold at the exhibition. I have chosen a few of the many photos I took. The book is smaller than my 'Standing on Fishes' book but still quite large as far as artist's books go. Once again I have used film for the drawings, pen and ink and graphite, and layers of soft tengujo papers in between layers.

The sense I hoped to capture here was that of wandering through the forest and being entranced by the debris of the forest floor - the broken branches and their beautiful markings as they decay. In fact I often spend my time in the forest/bush looking down rather than upwards!

These last few images are again of my 'Standing on Fishes' - still my favourite - which I finished in time for the exhibition. I have used graphite and graphite pencils to draw some very simple lines and markings which seemed to tie the pen and ink drawings together.

When I posted on this book I had not in fact sewn it. I chose a simple Japanese stab binding as it suited the aesthetic of these books and the front cover simply has a few lines embossed into it. The book has a slip case of perspex and I also made covers for the books under which they sit for display.

Friday, 20 November 2015

Having dropped our work off at the Noosa Regional Gallery Fiona and I headed off for coffee in an absolute daze. Three years of our artists' book collection and all the work we had been making individually just left there on tables. A very scary moment indeed. Until I arrived first thing on Friday morning before the Opening with a friend of mine (who is such a supporter of me and my work) and saw how Nina and Nicole and their NRG team had curated this exhibition. Fiona and I could never have imagined it looking so wonderful!

I was really delighted to see my larger works up with plenty of breathing space around them. There is just no room in my studio for this kind of work to be seen.

There were nooks and plinths where work was beautifully displayed - a lovely mix of Fiona's and my work. By and large I am photographing my work here (Fiona has already posted on the Exhibition) - with difficulty as the lighting is geared to showing the work and not really for photography! On the wall are four of my 'Australian Textures' pieces and opposite them, which you can't see in this photograph, is the 16 piece work 'Textures of Australia'.

Our collaborative works were beautifully showcased in the vitrines or on the wall. This body of work has been sold to a private collector in Melbourne and Fiona and I are so pleased that the collection will stay together.

The ceilings in this main gallery were really high, with huge wall spaces which really suited the spread of my work. Because of the nature of the work it is difficult to show the work well but the details below will give you a feel for the largest of my works which was called 'Meandering'. These twenty one pieces were framed outside the perspex boxes I made, seven in all, and what you don't see here with the work on a white wall but would see more clearly on a darker one, I have sanded the front surface of all the boxes save for a 'river' which meanders behind all the images, linking them together.

Again my 'Australian Textures' and below it my book 'Hunting and Gathering'. Below a clearer picture of 'Textures of Australia'.

I haven't included any photos of my two completed books 'Standing on Fishes' and 'Branching Out' which I will do in the next couple of days. The books and the 3D drawings which make up 'Wandering' seem to have been everyone's favourites.

It has been an overwhelming few weeks with so much wonderful feedback from friends and strangers alike. I am having a bit of a break from the studio but that may mean I get back to posting on this blog a little more regularly.